iceskating

You’ll have a chance to go ice skating and sledding in downtown Raleigh this winter, even if the temperatures never dip below freezing.

Raleigh Winterfest starts Friday and features an outdoor skating rink with real ice (I specify real because the cute ice rink in North Hills is plastic). It’s a cool way for the city to celebrate the opening of the plaza. And it’s also First Friday, which means if the rink is too packed, you can go look at art!

Here’s what you need to know:

The skating rink opens Friday night as part of a bigger celebration in the plaza that will feature Michelle Branch — ask the nearest teenage girl (or me) how the song “Everywhere” goes and you’ll know who she is – crafters, artisans and, of course, ice skating. Here’s the full schedule for Friday night’s events.

The Friday event (and several nights later in the month) will also feature SLED RAMPS. Basically, it’s a couple of big slides packed with fake snow. But for those of us deprived of snow (thanks to both geography and global warming) it’s the next best thing to coasting down a snow packed hill. Here’s a picture of the sledding ramp.

The skating rink will be open every day through Jan. 31. Here’s the full schedule.

It costs $6 to skate, which includes ice skate rentals. But they’re having special date nights where couples can get a discount if they eat at downtown restaurants. Details on date nights here.